Department 56 Collectibles

A Christmas Story.

Throughout our history, Orphans Treasure Box has received God’s richest blessing through the sacrificial love of so many people who have been inspired by our mission. This is one of our early stories…a Christmas story.

During our first year, as we were just starting out and learning a business, Maribeth Van Gordon gave us a most excellent gift. She cleared out her storage unit of Dept 56 collectibles and gave them all to us. Worth thousands of dollars, these pieces had been precious to Maribeth and her first husband, who died of cancer. After her remarriage, as she was looking at these pieces, she felt the heart tug to give them away.

And, oh my, what good those pieces began to do. As they sold, we were able to supplement our book sales at Orphans Treasure Box. We gave additional adoption grants….helping 2 more orphans that year become sons and daughters. We were able to help support an outreach to children in Swaziland who had lost their parents to AIDS, we were able to fill the pantry and buy new mattresses for an orphanage serving street children in Peru, and a little boy in Peru got hearing aids which truly changed his life.

This Christmas we are thinking of Maribeth’s most excellent gift and how God breathed life into Orphans Treasure Box through her generosity. Only a few pieces remain from that tremendous collection and they are on sale now at our outlet. Her kindness, though, lives on in children who she may not meet until heaven. God touching the heart of someone to give, they answered that call, and children were blessed. A beautiful story….a Christmas story.